Till Death Do Us Part
by PadawanMage
Summary: Donna Noble won't go quietly into the night, not if she has anything to say about it. Alternate universe take on end of 'Journey's End'.


**Title:** "Till Death Do Us Part"

**Spoilers:** Lots! (HINT, HINT!) Up to and including 'Journey's End'.

**Summary:** An alternate universe take on what would happen if Donna decided not to go gently into the night at the end of the season finale.

**Author's Notes:** I didn't like how the Doctor erased Donna's mind like that at the end, without at least giving her a choice. She did all those incredible things, and he just ripped them away from her. I also find it hard how mention of the Doctor could really be avoided.

* * *

"Doctor…please! Please don't make me go back!"

Tears ran down Donna's face as she stumbled backwards, hitting one of the main support columns of the TARDIS. Her hand suddenly went to her head as she winced in pain. Spots flashed before her eyes as the knowledge of the Time Lords began to bleed into her psyche.

"Oh, Donna Noble, I am so sorry," the Doctor said with infinite sadness. He reached out and gently grasped her shoulders. "But we had the best of times…the best." His hands slowly went up and sought out her temples. "Good bye," he said with heartbroken finality.

"No – no! Please, no, don't!" Eyes widening in realization, Donna pressed both her hands on the Doctor's chest and pushed with all she had. Yelling in surprise, the Time Lord fell back several feet and slammed onto the floor.

Donna lunged at the TARDIS controls, typed furiously and then mashed her fist on a button. Instantly, a beam of light surrounded her fallen companion.

"Donna!" The Doctor leapt from the floor and ran towards his companion, but was instantly stopped by a containment cell, which flickered in blue phosphorescence at his touch. "What are you doing?!" he yelled, impotently trying to push through the force field.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," Donna said, shaking her head. "I can't let you do that…I can't let you just – just 'mind rape' everything that I am."

The Doctor winced at the term and looked away in a moment of shame. "Donna," he said with exaggerated calm, "you don't understand. There is no other way. The human brain isn't made to handle that kind of knowledge. If I don't do something very soon and very quick, your mind will explode from the sheer pressure."

Again, Donna shook her head. "I'd rather die then go back to not knowing what's out there: all that beauty, all that wonder. The Ood…Pompei…the Library…all our travels…you were going to take all that away from me, weren't you?" She pointed a trembling finger towards the Doctor. "I just helped you save the whole bloody universe from the Daleks…doesn't that at least grant me a choice?"

"My way, you at least live," the Doctor argued.

"Your way, I'm back to being nothing," she countered.

"What about your mother? And Wilf?"

Donna looked away. "Granddad would understand, I think. As for my mum…" She shrugged. "We've never really seen eye to eye, always thinking I wouldn't amount to anything."

"Please, Donna," the Doctor said in dismay. "I can't let that happen…I can't let you die. Davros was right: I may hate guns, but people still tend to die around me."

Donna gave him pitying look that held a world of affection. "Oh, you stupid, stupid spaceman. I have your memories and I can see everyone who's died for you, in all your generations. Don't you get it? Don't you know why they did what they did? It wasn't because you forced them or tricked them, it was because they cared about you…because they" – she swallowed – "loved you."

The Doctor closed his eyes and sighed. "I should've just regenerated. If I hadn't siphoned that energy into my hand…maybe we could've found another way, one where you wouldn't have to die…"

"Who said anything about dying?"

The Doctor's eyes snapped open and he stared at Donna. "What?"

She smiled and tapped the side of her head with a finger. "You said it yourself: part Time Lord, part human. There's still enough left in me and I now know how to use it."

The Time Lord's mouth fell and his eyes grew large. "Donna…don't even try it! The human body's not made for something like that!"

Donna grunted and nearly fell over but grabbed the end of the console at the last moment. "It's too late," she gasped. "It's – it's already started…I can feel it." A very dim, yet steadily increasing, orange incandescent glow emanated from around her neck and cuffs of her coat.

"Doctor…" she started, "no matter what happens, I just want you to know that you," she smiled, "both of you…were just brilliant." A cry of pain escaped from her lips as she grabbed her chest and gritted her teeth, staggering a bit. Taking a shuddering breath, she straightened up. She looked the Doctor right in the eye, giving him that same sarcastic grin of hers. And Donna Noble, Mistress of Typing, Super Temp and Savior of the Universe said:

"And you know what? So was I."

The Doctor could only watch in horror as his friend threw her head and arms back just as a torrent of blazing, radiant energy exploded from every pore in her body. So dazzling was the eruption that he blinked his eyes from temporary blindness. The area before him suddenly exploded for real, with a force so terrible it rocked the TARDIS.

The Doctor screamed as power suddenly went off and the entire area was plunged into darkness. The holding cell flickered off and he rushed over just as Donna's body hit the floor.

"Donna…Donna, can you hear me?"

He couldn't see how bad the damage was – who knew what the regeneration process had done, even to a person who was half Time Lord – but he felt around and found a wrist. After a moment, he sighed in relief as he felt the barest of heartbeats. A quick scan with the sonic screwdriver confirmed that the person before him was human; all Time Lord DNA was gone.

Turning, he reached over and pressed a few buttons and threw one large switch. Power and lighting immediately was restored. When the Doctor turned back, however, and he could finally see who was lying before him…he gasped and fell back in alarm.

"What?!"

The Time Lord stared at the figure on the floor and started to shake his head.

"No…it can't…it just can't be."

He covered his mouth with a hand, but then his head snapped up and his eyes narrowed. Was it possible? Leaning over, he gingerly touched both sides of the person's face with his fingers and closed his eyes. A moment passed until he opened his eyes again, a forlorn expression in them.

It was all gone: the knowledge of the Time Lords, all the lingering power, all of it. But all the memories of the person he once knew and cared about were also wiped clean. All their travels together, all the excitement they'd shared, even all the temp jobs she'd had before meeting him…all of it was gone forever.

"Oh, Donna," he said. "You did it…and yet you didn't." While her body had been saved, her mind was now gone. Although all healed, there was now no trace of the person she was before.

Donna Noble…_his_ Donna Noble…was gone.

And the person before him was…someone else.

But now…now, it all made terrible, beautiful sense. Why was it, in all his travels with Donna, did every being they'd encountered before think that the two of them were 'together'. The bittersweet answer lay right before him.

Before he could say or do anything else, the person groaned. Blue eyes slowly flickered open, took in the surroundings, and then presently rested on him. After a moment, a smile broke out.

"Hello," the person said in a soft contralto.

"Hello," he quietly said. "I'm the Doctor." Then, taking a deep breath, he asked, "Do you know who you are?"

A frown. Then, "I'm…I'm not sure. Do _you_ know who I am?" The person slowly rose from the floor and curly, brown hair spilled over shoulders.

The Doctor nodded. "You're name is – " His voice caught in his throat. He knew the moment he uttered that name, the clock would start counting down. The end of this particular journey, while not even started, was already known. But was it not said that it was the journey, not the destination, which was important?

Besides…the Singing Towers of Durilium could wait.

He would honor Donna Noble and her memory, and while she'd died, another would take her place.

Steeling himself, and burying the dread that would pick at his soul until the very end, he said:

"Your name is…River Song." He broke out in a smile. "Want to do a picnic at Asgard?"

**-FIN-**


End file.
